The army says the 25-year-old officer died yesterday night of injuries sustained when his Gazelle helicopter crashed about 20 kilometers (12 miles) east of Abidjan earlier in the day.

The army says the helicopter had been involved in a joint training exercise with Ivory Coast forces. The circumstances of the crash are being investigated. France has a supply point in Abidjan for its Operation Barkhane, which combats growing extremism in West Africa.

In October a cargo plane chartered by the French military crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on its approach to Abidjan, killing four crew members from Moldova and injuring six others from Moldova and France .